It has been Human tendency that we usually try things without thinking of the consequences….This is not limited to recreational activities….Now a days,with the advancements in science Human has become so reckless that He has started comparing himself to the greatness of God and enigma of Mother Nature….Ecological webs as designed by Nature was with due respect to the fact that harmony had to be maintained between the species….Some co-existing….some are predators….others are prey…..But a major balance was ALWAYS maintained!!!!…..But since we humans have this rebellious attitude to change things…..we went ahead and played with delicate web balance by some rather disastrous introductions….which have not just caused irreversible ecological damage but also caused major extinctions….Here is complete list of such measly mistakes done by Humans-
10) Blackbird-
No…This is not Jungle Crow….It is not even native of India… Blackbirds are native to Europe…. They were released into New York City between 1890 and 1891, supposedly in an effort to introduce all of the birds of Shakespeare into the United States….This is called hitting the hammer on your own feet….The numbers of these birds grew in huge numbers….When 3,000 of them try to sit on a telephone wire, it collapses…. When the birds grazing on cattle feed, they eat enough to hurt dairy cows’ milk production and cost the farmer significantly in replacement grain….. When poisoned, they die in huge numbers…. thousands of carcasses fell from tree branches and landed around the city…..
Black Bird
9) Kudzu Vine-
The best example of weed which will grow from the ashes like pheonix is Kudzu vine….A hearty vine sat amongst the gladiolas and orange trees at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition, the first big World’s Fair in the U.S…. The exhibit was some North Americans’ first look at kudzu, an Asian plant….This is where everything started going worse….Soon sellers started buying this vine….This weed soon spread to all parts of the U.S…..As farmers and families moved to cities, the land was left to whatever grew the fastest….Growing unchecked from a backyard garden, it will climb over a house…. From the edge of a field, it will carpet an orchard or smother a forest….
Kudzu Vine
8 ) Brown Tree Snake -
When we normally see a snake….we fear of our safety solely for the reason that it might bite us and we will dead within no time….Wish even the people in Guam had this fear….Because then they would not have allowed the Brown Tree Snake which reached there accidentally to survive …The people in that region let these cold blooded snakes roam thinking that they would get rid of snakes….But people were unknown to the fact that these snakes feast on the bird species in that region….Slowly these snakes grew to such large numbers that now they outnumber people in Guam….Almost 10 species of birds have become extinct….Now these snakes are busy finishing off the remaining two species….
Brown Tree Snake
7) Rabbit-
Can you think that even rabbits can cause destruction….Romans were the first who domesticated rabbits….Rome collapsed….But they left behind rabbits….Once farmers started planting vegetables, which happened at an untimely moment — when the rabbits’ natural predators declined — it was unclear who was in control….The most amount of destruction is caused by wild rabbits…three of them can eat as much as sheep eats….Enough to cause a huge dent for agriculture and a hole in the pockets for farmers!!!
Wild Rabbit
6) Water Hyacinth-
This is what I called beautiful disaster….They are pretty and purple….But they are prolific weeds that double their population in 12 days….These plants pose a huge nuisance to processes that move water…. They clog irrigation systems and drainage canals, causing flooding, and shut down hydroelectric power plants…. They also block water travel, which in places like Papua New Guinea, where the water is the road, stops life…. By lowering the amount of light and oxygen in the water, they transform water ecosystems, choking out fish and other plants and eventually turning open water into marshes….
Water Hyacinth
5) Nutria-
These species are look so much alike the beavers….that no one would believe these cute looking species could cause so much destruction….They slipped into lakes and marshes, where they munch the tender shoots, water lilies and reeds….They pull the grass out…this actually robs many animals of their mating places,including the endangered dragonfly in Japan….For people, the nuisance stemmed from the flooding that happened when marshes were no longer there to soak up water….Nutria have become great crop destroyers, ravaging Italian rice farms, sugarcane and sugarbeet fields, as well as alfalfa patches…..
Nutria
4) Bush Currant-
Absolutely yummy looking berries….But this bush is major invasive species….Hawaiians call it the purple plague, and Tahitians dub it green cancer….This plant was mainly imported for its green and purple leaves….But slowly it starting taking over entire forests when forest gaps opened because of fires or landslides….Bush currant uses sunlight better than other rainforest trees, and it grows fast. The tree shades out any seedlings that try to colonize the gap…Once it forms dense stands, it prevents water from soaking into the ground….The shallow roots also encourage erosion and landslides, so if the invaded patch is on a slope, it eventually falls off the hillside…. At that point, the land isn’t even suited to agriculture, since erosion strips nutrients….Bush currant threatens about half of the native plants on Tahiti with extinction….This proves that all good looking things may not be GOOD!!!
Bush Currant
3) Indian Mongoose-
We Indians have grown up listening to the story of Mangoose who saved his owners kid’s life from snake….and died instead…. It has e become a problem on islands, from Puerto Rico to Hawaii….mongoose was introduced to eat rats….But instead they started feasting on local birds and reptiles, especially species that laid eggs on the ground….Their appetite for threatened and endangered species has driven a bird, the Fijian bar-winged rail, and a snake, the Hispaniola racer, to extinction. In fact, name an island, and the mongoose is likely eating the eggs of a threatened species there, from the pink pigeons on Mauritius to the Garman’s ground lizards on Grenada. And the rats are still eating the sugarcane….
Indian Mongoose
2) Mute Swan-
These are lovely invasive species….But they hog resources and exclude other birds…. In the 19th and 20th centuries, Americans and Canadians imported these natives of Europe and Asia to decorate zoos and parks…. After being let out or flying away, the birds landed in lakes, ponds and wetlands…. Swans proved to be bad neighbors….Extremely territorial, they claimed entire lakes, driving off and killing other birds that encroached…. They’ll even attack children who get too close…. After claiming a body of water, they overgraze underwater plants, further excluding other birds… In winter, they eat the roots of plants meant to sprout in the spring, again robbing other birds of food….They’ve gorged enough to drive water plants locally extinct…. It’s not only birds and plants that suffer; swans change the water community enough to threaten the fish….
Mute Swan
1) CANE TOAD-
Cane toads are native to Mexico, Central America and South America, where they hide in wet areas of the forest…. When introduced throughout the world, cane toads were intended to be a farmer’s friend….. They eat insects, and farmers released them to attack beetles in fields of sugarcane, banana and other crops…. Now cane toads are hopping around Egypt, Hawaii and more. As toads do, they’ve found wet places to live: drain pipes, which they clog, and drinking water tanks, which they foul….They sit under houses and belt out their mating call, which sounds like a telephone dial tone….As predators, they’re little poison bombs…. When a death adder, one of the world’s most poisonous snakes, swallows a cane toad, the death adder dies…. Certainly if pet dogs and cats eat the toad, they’re in danger…. The toad can also squirt its toxic secretions several feet, so to kill a pet, the animal needs only to paw. The toad has helped to poison Guam’s monitor lizards into decline, and it kills way more than its fair share of extremely deadly snakes in Australia….
Cane Toad
This list is exhaustive….The only way out is that we stop acting God….and let Mother Nature do her job well….Any more additions will be more destructive!!!!
